Two Anti-Gay Billboards Put Up on S.I.

By JULIAN E. BARNES

Published: March 8, 2000

Two billboards quoting a Bible verse to condemn homosexuality have appeared on Staten Island, shrouded in anonymity and stirring frustration among gay men and lesbians.

Residents in the St. George and Port Richmond neighborhoods said they first noticed the black and white billboards on Friday. The billboards cite four translations of Leviticus 18:22, including the King James version, which reads, ''Thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination.'' The verse, from the Old Testament, has often been cited to condemn homosexual behavior.

The signs, on Bay Street near Slosson Terrace in St. George, and at the corner of Decker and Forest Avenues in Port Richmond, do not identify who paid for the message. The billboard itself identifies its owner as PNE Media of Union, N.J.; officials there did not return phone calls yesterday.

Gay rights advocates said they were frustrated that whoever posted the signs, which are about 16 feet wide and 8 feet tall, had not come forward.

''It's just so cowardly to take a position and not sign your name,'' said Charles W. Keeler III, the president of Integrity/Staten Island, a gay and lesbian ministry within the Episcopal Church.

Mr. Keeler said the billboard had taken the scriptural quotation out of context, and added that Leviticus contained many other prohibitions that most people typically ignore.

''In the same book, in Leviticus, it says it is an abomination to mix two kinds of fabric,'' Mr. Keeler said.

The Staten Island borough president, Guy V. Molinari, yesterday called on whoever paid for the billboards to remove them. He said he had asked his anti-bias task force to try to find out who was responsible.

''I was distressed by them,'' Mr. Molinari said of the billboards. ''I don't think they serve any meaningful purpose. If it is someone we can communicate with, we will ask them to take it down.''

Last year, a Queens man had to remove a billboard with an anti-immigration message that was posted on the side of a Brooklyn building after the city determined that it did not have the proper permit.

But Mr. Molinari said the city might be powerless in this case, because the signs probably have permits.

The billboards are on freestanding structures, which generally are in compliance with permit laws.

Mr. Molinari said he worried that the anti-gay message could lead to misunderstandings or confrontations. ''There is a perception that Staten Islanders are anti-gay but that is not at all the case,'' he said.

James J. Smith, the president of Lambda Associates of Staten Island, a gay cultural group, agreed that there had been growing tolerance for gays on Staten Island. The number of openly gay people has grown in recent years, he said, as couples have bought homes and moved to the St. George neighborhood from Manhattan.

''Years ago they moved off the island,'' Mr. Smith said. ''Now they are moving back.''

Gay leaders on Staten Island and in other parts of the city have discussed holding vigils to protest the billboards or mounting some other sort of demonstration. Chris Bauer, the program director for the Staten Island Aids Task Force, said he was having a drink in the Cargo Cafe on Bay Street when someone pointed across the street to the sign.

''A lot of people were talking about it and were saying we should throw paint at it,'' he said. But, Mr. Bauer said, he pushed for a less aggressive tactic.

''There is a tree in front of it,'' he said. ''In a month it will be covered with leaves. The Lord will take care of it.''

Photo: A billboard on Bay Street in the St. George section of Staten Island invokes Leviticus 18:22 in four translations. The sign does not identify who paid for the message, which also appears on a billboard in Port Richmond. (Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times)